System and a method for playing and managing an interactive social game between a plurality of client computers connected to a network

ABSTRACT

A system for playing and managing an interactive social game between a plurality of client computers connected to a network in a communications network includes a processor for playing an interactive social game program at the plurality of client computers operated by users. The interactive social game program includes associating the users of the client computers with social item(s) to be managed. The processor is operable to present the users of the client computer with stored promotions in memory. The processor is operable to cause the execution of the social game program in response to an input command, to incorporate a selected promotion and present the selected promotion visually to client computers while playing the interactive social game.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/694,405, filed Sep. 1, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/478,807, filed May 23, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No.9,751,017, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to, in a communications network, a systemand a method for playing and managing an interactive social game betweenpluralities of client computers connected to a network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Large numbers of fans and enthusiasts spend a large amount of money eachyear on activities relating to real-life events such as sporting events.Professional baseball, basketball, football, soccer, and hockey, to namejust a few, reap billions of dollars in revenues each year. By way ofcable and satellite television, viewers can now watch virtually any typeof sporting event that occurs in most places in the world. If notdirectly accessible by television, the user can access such events viathe Internet.

One source of entertainment related to events of this type is providedby software companies that develop computer games of sports that allow auser to play in the game in a virtual setting and compete against otherusers. The existing computer games of sports have in common that thegame closely follows the manner in which e.g. professional footballgames are played where the aim is to win the games that are beingplayed. However, most if not all these games have in common that theplayers are in no way responsible for managing the teams and individualplayers as is being done in real life.

The inventor of the present invention has appreciated that there is thusa need for an improved system for playing sport game were the player isresponsible for a given sport team and where special attention is givento social activities such as financial managing of the sport team,management of the individual players of the team and daily operationsfor the team and has in consequence devised the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It would be advantageous to achieve an interactive social game systemthat presents an appealing online social game system and a method thatwill attract sport enthusiasts worldwide.

According to a first aspect of the invention, in a communicationsnetwork, a system for playing and managing an interactive social gamebetween pluralities of client computers connected to a network isprovided, comprising:

a processor for playing an interactive social game program at saidplurality of client computers operated by users, the interactive socialgame program including associating the users of said client computerswith social item to be managed;

a memory for storing promotions from plurality of potential advertisers,said processor being operable to present the users of said clientcomputer with said stored promotions; and

an input unit for receiving an input command from a user selected fromsaid users indicating a promotion of interest, said processor beingoperable to cause the execution of said social game program in responseto said input command and to incorporate said selected promotion to thesocial item associated to said user and present the selected promotionvisually to said user and at least some of the remaining users of saidclient computers while playing said interactive social game with saiduser.

Accordingly, by selection the promotion of interest the promotion willappear as a part of the game both at the user side that selected thepromotion as well as at the other client sides that are playing the gamewith said user. Therefore, a commercially advantageous solution isprovided for distributing promotions via said communication network,which appears as a part of the game, and where the users/players of thegame do not experience this as a real commercial. Thus, if a user A hasselected a given commercial and is competing or playing with user B,this commercial will also appear at the user B side that may be locatedsomewhere in the world and will appear as a part of appearance of thesocial item associated to user A.

In one embodiment, said interactive social game is a sport game andwherein said social item to be managed is a sport team consisting ofplurality of sport team players. The sport team as such may be managed,or the individual players of the sport team, or both the players and thesport team. Accordingly, by incorporate said selected promotion to thesocial item can be that the user selects a given promotion and thispromotion may appear as a sponsor for the sport team and appear on theteams outfit, or the teams stadium etc., just as in real life.

In one embodiment, said input unit is further operable to receive aselection command from said user indicating a team selection and wheresaid team associated to the user is based on said selection command. Theselection command may be selected from the non-limiting list of one ormore of the following: name of the team, or overtaking an existing team,or changing name of an existing team, or selecting outfit for the team.The user can thus customize the team to his/her own need, where e.g. theuser's favorite colors may be reflected in selecting the outfit for theteam. The scenario where the name of the team is changed could e.g. beif the user moves from one community to another community where the newteam name is the name of the new community where the user is living in.

In one embodiment, the processor is operable to add or remove creditpoints associated to the team in response to decision events made by theuser. In one embodiment, these credit points form a financial capacityfor said team and where the financial capacity may be increased ordecreased via said decision events where credit points are added orremoved. In that way a dynamic way is provided allowing the user tooperate the team and/or the team players as a sport club in real lifewhere the user is responsible for different decision and can profitbased on good decision and the consequences for not so good decisions.It is obvious that it is not an easy task to run a sport club andrequires considerable financial insight but a sport club not onlygenerates income, but also considerable expenditures. The user of saidteam must accordingly find a sustainable balance between the two.

In one embodiment, said decision events when credit points are added andassociated to the team are selected from one or more of the followingnon limiting decision events: making promotion deals to said potentialadvertisers, or selling players in the team, or increase number of seatsof a stadium associated to said sport team and thus the ticket sales, orincrease ticket price in home games, or winning games, or making tie ingames.

In one embodiment, the decision events when credit points are removedfrom the team are selected from one or more of the following decisionevent: making investments in buying new team players, or makinginvestments by increase number of seat of a stadium associated to saidsport team, or making investment by buying a new trainer for the team,or making investment by buying an assistant for the team, or loosinggames.

In one embodiment, the decision events when credit points are added andassociated to the team is when the user selects promotion from saidplurality of potential advertisers, where at least two of saidpromotions have different associated credit points. The fact thatdifferent promotions may have different associated credit points mayencourage user to select one unknown brand instead of another well knownbrand, simply because the former brand gives more credit points. In thatway, the distribution of the brands selected by the users becomes morenatural where small unknown brands that might otherwise not be selectedwill be selected by the users.

Accordingly, said interactive social game imitates financial operationof a real life scenario where difficult decision must be made whichrequires some difficult investment decisions, which later on revealsthat the investment was actually a good investment that providesadditional credit points. As an example, making an appropriateinvestment by increasing the number of seats in the stadium may revealas being a good investment via increase number in the ticket sale.

In one embodiment, the players of the team are associated withstatistical data indicating their strength and weakness. In oneembodiment, this statistical data are dynamical data that may beautomatically adjusted in favor or against the player in response to atask selected by the user. In one embodiment, the task is a trainingtask that is triggered via a selection command from said user via saidinput unit. In one embodiment, the training task is selected from one ormore of the following non limiting training tasks: tactical trainingtask, physical training task, or mental training task. The players ofthe team can thus be improved via increasing the number of exercises, orvia building up the user's self-confidence etc. just like in real life.Thus, finding e.g. the right balance between the numbers of trainingsvs. the number of times the user selects a mental training task may bevery important to improve said statistical data in the most optimal way.

In another embodiment, said statistical data are automatically adjustedin favor of the player by selecting the player in the starting lineupand increase the number of trainings. Thus, by selecting a given playerin the starting lineup the player both gets more playing experience,which, as in real sport, gets more self-confidence and therefore becomesa better player. Regarding the number of trainings, it is of course atraining number threshold that must be taken into account. As anexample, it may not be wise to let a given player train five times aday, because then there is a risk of injuries, which is the same for areal player. Accordingly, said system is capable of simulating a realteam where all decision event must be carefully considered.

In one embodiment, additional credit points are associated to saidplayer when the statistical data are adjusted in favor of the player.Accordingly, if the dynamical data are adjusted in favor of the playerbecause e.g. the player has in the last games been in the startinglineup and therefore gained much playing experience and has also beentraining intensively (but up to an appropriate limit) the player becomesmore valuable. The user that is managing the game may then as an examplesell the player and get additional credit points. Such a decision musthowever be considered carefully because the team will not be as strongin the absence of this player which might result in less winnings in thecoming future.

In one embodiment, the advertiser of said selected promotion acts as asponsor in said interactive social game for team associated to said userand credit points are associated to the team. By selecting as an exampleNIKE® as a sponsor for the team the user gets credit points, but thecredit points may as an example depend on how long the contract isbetween the team and NIKE®. The contract may e.g. only be one season ortwo seasons etc., where the two season contract would give more creditpoints that a one season contract. Also, the user may in one embodimentmake revoke the contract and make a new contract with another sponsor.

In one embodiment, said input unit is further operable to receive aselection command from said user indicating a selection of players forsaid team and where said players associated to the user is based on saidselection command. The user may thus manually select out the playersfrom a pool of players, where it is up to the user to estimate the mostpreferred statistics of the individual players so that the outcome ofthe team will be maximized.

It should be noted that said interactive social game program may beprogrammed so that all input commands from said user, e.g. any of saidinvestment decisions, acts as an input parameter in a computer algorithmthat results in an output, e.g. via increasing or decreasing creditpoints. As an example, if the user of the game logs to the game twice aday and selects a training task for a given player via appropriateselection command, e.g. via mouse click, the algorithm may automaticallyadjust the statistical data associated to the user in favor of theplayer, and simultaneously adjusts that credit points associated to thisplayer automatically. However, the computer algorithm may e.g. beprogrammed in a way that if a training task is selected more that e.g. 4times within 24 hours, the computer algorithm may reduces the number ofstatistical data in non-favor of the player and automatically decreasethe number of credit points associated to the user. Similar may applyfor various investment decisions etc.

According to another aspect, the present invention relates to a methodperformed in a communications network of playing and managing aninteractive social game between plurality of client computers connectedto a network, comprising:

playing an interactive social game program at said plurality of clientcomputers operated by users, the interactive social game programincluding associating the users of said client computers with socialitem to be managed;

storing promotions from plurality of potential advertisers;

presenting the users of said client computer with said storedpromotions;

receiving an input command from a user selected from said usersindicating a promotion of interest; and

incorporating said selected promotion to the social item associated tosaid user and present the selected promotion visually to said user andat least some of the remaining users of said client computers whileplaying said interactive social game with said user.

In one embodiment of said method, said interactive social game is asport game and wherein said social item to be managed is a sport teamconsisting of plurality of sport team players.

In one embodiment, said method further comprises receiving via aselection command from said user indicating a team selection and wheresaid team associated to the user is based on said selection command,said selection command being selected from one or more of the following:name of the team, or overtaking an existing team, or changing name of anexisting team, or selecting outfit for the team.

In one embodiment of said method, credit points are added or removed inresponse to decision events made by the user and where said creditpoints form a financial capacity for said team and where the financialcapacity may be increased or decreased via said decision events wherecredit points are added or removed.

In one embodiment of said method, the decision events when credit pointsare added and associated to the team are selected from one or more ofthe following decision event:

making promotion deals to a third party;

selling players in the team;

increase number of seats of a stadium associated to said sport team andthus the ticket sales,

increase ticket price in home games;

winning games;

making tie in games;

selecting promotion from said plurality of potential advertisers;

and where the decision events when credit points are removed from theteam are selected from one or more of the following decision event:

making investments in buying new team players;

making investments by increase number of seat of a stadium associated tosaid sport team;

making investment by buying a new trainer for the team;

making investment by buying a assistant for the team; and

loosing games.

In one embodiment of said method, the players of the team are associatedwith statistical data indicating their strength and weakness and wheresaid statistical data are dynamical data that may be automaticallyadjusted in favor or against the player in response to a task selectedby the user.

In one embodiment of said method, the task is a training task that istriggered via a selection command from said user via said input unit,said training task being selected from one or more of the followingtraining tasks:

tactical training task;

physical training task; and

mental training task.

In one embodiment of said method, said statistical data areautomatically adjusted in favor of the player by selecting the player inthe starting lineup and increase the number of trainings.

In one embodiment of said method, additional credit points areassociated to said player when the statistical data are adjusted infavor of the player.

In one embodiment of said method, the advertiser of said selectedpromotion acts as a sponsor in said interactive social game for teamassociated to said user and credit points are associated to the team.

In one embodiment, the method further includes receiving a selectioncommand from said user indicating a selection of players for said teamand where said players associated to the user is based on said selectioncommand.

In one embodiment of said method, method further includes allowing theuser to set up his/her team.

According to a third aspect, the present invention relates to computerprogram product tangibly embodied on a computer-readable medium andincluding executable code that, when executed, is configured to causeone or more processors of a computing device to:

play an interactive social game program at plurality of client computersoperated by users, the interactive social game program includingassociating the users of said client computers with social item to bemanaged;

store promotions from plurality of potential advertisers;

present the users of said client computer with said stored promotions;

receive an input command from a user selected from said users indicatinga promotion of interest; and

incorporate said selected promotion to the social item associated tosaid user and present the selected promotion visually to said user andat least some of the remaining users of said client computers whileplaying said interactive social game with said user.

In general the various aspects of the invention may be combined andcoupled in any way possible within the scope of the invention. These andother aspects, features and/or advantages of the invention will beapparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments describedhereinafter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention will be described, by way of example only,with reference to the drawings, in which

FIG. 1 depicts graphically a system according to the present inventionfor playing and managing, in a communication network, an interactivesocial game between plurality of client computers connected to anetwork,

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of a method according to the present inventionof playing and managing an interactive social game in a communicationnetwork between plurality of client computers connected to a network,

FIG. 3 shows strength levels a user can select from ranging from thefirst division, which is the most difficult division to a fourthdivision,

FIG. 4 shown one example where different sponsor/potential advertisersare listed,

FIG. 5 shows on example of an interface of a player that is presented touser,

FIG. 6 shows another interface of a player showing the overall skill theplayer,

FIG. 7 shows an interface where a user is provided with several line-upoptions that he/she can select between,

FIG. 8 shows a graphical presentation of a stadium and where a soccermatch has ended,

FIG. 9 shows an overview of the previous league round where the user cansee where his/her club ranks amongst the others and in that way the usercan monitor the progress of his/her team, and

FIG. 10 shows a financial overview over the user's club where the useris provided with detailed information about various financialparameters.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Before explaining the present invention in details, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not limited to the particularembodiment and that it can be practiced or carried out in various ways.

FIG. 1 depicts graphically a system 100 according to the presentinvention for playing and managing, in a communication network, aninteractive social game between plurality of client computers 104-109connected to a network 117 such as the Internet where the systemcomprises a processor (P) 101, a memory 103 and an input units (I_U)102.

The processor may be comprised in a central server 110 and is adapted toplay an interactive social game program that may be stored at memory atthe client computers operated by users 111-112. This interactive socialgame program may as an example be downloaded by the users 111-116 andstored locally at the client computers 104-109. This interactive socialgame program associates the users 111-116 of the client computers104-109 with social item to be managed. The client computers may as anexample be selected from a non-limiting list of any type of portablecomputer device 104 such as mobile phones or tablet computers orpersonal digital assistant (PDA), laptop or desk-top computers and thelike.

In the following, it will be assumed that the social item is a sportteam that consists of plurality of sport team players. The social itemshould however not be construed as being limited to a sport team, butthe item may just as well be a computer animated person, an animal, e.g.a penguin, giraffe, a car etc., i.e. something that is interacting withother social items of other users. For simplicity, in the following itwill be assumed that the item is a football team with 22 footballplayers.

The memory 103 is adapted to store, among other things, promotions fromplurality of potential advertisers. The promotions may as an example bein a form of a logo, brands, or advertisements, e.g. COCA COLA®, NIKE®,PEPSI®, or the promotions may be logos from sport clubs etc. Theprocessor is operable to present the users 111-116 with these storedpromotions by displaying the promotions on the display of the clientcomputers.

The input unit is adapted to receive an input command from a user 111selected from said users 111-116 indicating a promotion of interest. Theinput unit may as an example include a keyboard, a touch-screen deviceof e.g. a table computer or mobile phone, or a speech recognition systemwhere the user can via speech select the promotion of interest.

The processor (P) 101 is operable to cause the execution of the socialgame program in response to the input command from the user and toincorporate the selected promotion to the social item associated to saiduser and present the selected promotion visually to the user 111 andalso the remaining users 112-116 of the client computers 104-109 whileplaying the interactive social game. This means that if e.g. user 111selects the brand NIKE®, this brand/logo will not only be e.g. the logoof the users team throughout playing the game, but it will also appearat the client computers 105-109 when playing a game with this particularuser 111. Accordingly, a commercially advantageous solution is providedfor distributing promotions via the communication network 117 which mayas an example be the Internet. These potential advertisers may beexternal companies as mentioned here above that pay a third party thatoperates the system 100 on e.g. yearly basis, or each time a userselects their brand. This means that e.g. a company A may buy 1000appearances, where one appearance may correspond when a given userselects this brand, in said system so that each time a user 111-116selects the brand of company A this brand will be a part of the gameworldwide when two or more players are playing the game.

In one embodiment, the input unit (I_U) 102 is further operable toreceive a selection command from the user 111 indicating a teamselection and where the team associated to the user is based on thisselection command. This selection command may be, but is not limited to,one or more of the following selection commands: name of the team,overtaking an existing team, or changing name of an existing team, orselecting outfit for the team, selecting a name for the home stadium. Inthat way, the user may customize the team e.g. by selecting the name ofthe team, select the outfit for the team with the user's favorite color,changing the name of an existing team etc. The selected promotion maythen appear on the team's outfit and appear at the team's stadium andeven all appearances that may related to this team. This may as anexample be if another external user 112-116 wants to be presented withinformation about this team where the requested information may thenappear with this selected promotion.

This process of selecting the team, name of the team, stadium, uniformetc. might be the process at the very beginning of the game, or duringthe game where the user might want to change e.g. the name of the team.The scenario where the user overtakes an existing team may be when theteam as been inactive for a certain amount of time, i.e. where the userthat created that time is no longer playing the game.

In one embodiment, the processor (P) 101 is operable to add or removecredit points associated to the team in response to decision events madeby the user(s) 111-116 and in that way the users 111-116 can financiallymanage the teams associated to the them as if they were a real sportclubs. These credit points therefore form a financial capacity for theteam where the financial capacity may be increased or decreased viathese decision events by adding or removing credit points. It istherefore up to the user to operate the team as if it would be a realteam in real life. As an example, the decision events when credit pointsare added and associated to the team can be one or more of the followingdecision event: making promotion deals to said potential advertisers,selling players in the team, or increase number of seats of a stadiumassociated to said sport team and thus the ticket sales, or increaseticket price in home games, or winning games, or making tie in games.

Also, the number of credit points may be linked to the time indicator,where the user may get more credit point for longer sponsorship deal.Lets say that the user selects a particular brand, he/she may beassociated with 10.000 credit points and if the user makes let's say 2years deal with this potential advertiser he may be associated with morecredit points, e.g. 15.000 credit points.

Similarly, decision events when credit points are removed from the teamare selected from one or more of the following decision event makinginvestments in buying new team players, or making investments byincrease number of seat of a stadium associated to said sport team, ormaking investment by buying a new trainer for the team, or makinginvestment by buying a assistant for the team, or loosing games. Thesedecision events should of course be construed as being limited to onlythese decision events.

In one embodiment, different promotions may have different associatedcredit points and that are present to the user. The fact that differentpromotions may have different associated credit points may encourageuser to select one unknown brand instead of another well known brand,simply because the former brand gives more credit points. In that way,selection distribution of the brands becomes more natural where smalland unknown brands that might otherwise not be selected will indeed beselected by the users because of this larger number of credit points.Accordingly, a very know company A may give 10.000 credit for one seasonwhereas other less know or maybe unknown company B may give 12.000credit points for the same time period.

In one embodiment, the players of the team are associated withstatistical data indicating their strength and weakness, but thisstatistical data may be dynamical data that may be automaticallyadjusted in favor or against the player in response to a task selectedby the user such as via different training task. As an example, eachplayer may be divided into several categories, e.g. attack, power, skilletc., where each category is shown in percentage from 0-100, where zerois the lowest and 100 is the highest. This means that the user that ismanaging the team selects a training task and the type of the trainingtask. The processor (P) 101 will then process this selection made by theuser and instruct the interactive social game program to update updatethis data accordingly. As an example, if the user is very active andplays the game several times a day, and selects various training tasksfor different players, this statistical data will be updatedaccordingly, based on the different type of training task. As anexample, the training task be selected from one or more of the followingtraining tasks: tactical training task, physical training task, mentaltraining task. In that way, the system 100 can animate the result of thevarious trainings as if the players would be real players. It should ofcourse be noted that it may also be dangerous to select too muchtraining. If as an example the frequency of training is above certainthreshold value, e.g. above four trainings a day the processor (P) 101may adjust the data by reducing the percentages within a certaincategory, e.g. the category “power” may be reduced from 92% down to 60%.Therefore, the user must find the right balance in training, just as inreal life. Other scenarios where this data is adjusted in favor of theplayer is when the player is selected by the user in the startinglineup, but just as in real life, by selecting a given player in thestarting lineup the player both gets more playing experience and moreself-confidence and therefore becomes a better player.

In one embodiment, each player has associated credit points, whichreflects the value of the player. This means that the user that ismanaging the team can sell the player, and buy other players. Therefore,the credit points are adjusted in accordance with the statistical datameaning that if the statistical data are adjusted in favor of the playerthe number of credit points is increases, i.e. said computer programcouples said data with the number of credit points. In the same way, ifthe user takes some bad decisions regarding the training of the playerso that the data are reduced the value/credit points will then also bereduced.

In one embodiment, there is a match every day where the user 111 linesup his/her team, e.g. by choosing the best players, depending on theopponent, or by selecting less experienced players. The user may bepresented with statistical data about the opponent, e.g. number ofvictories in this or previous seasons, see statistical data associatedwith the players etc. and based thereon decide the line-up. If thestatistical data of the opponent show that the opponent has lost gamesin the last five matches, it might as an example be wise to selectseveral less experienced players in the line-up and in that way improvethe statistical data of these less experienced players and thus thevalue of these players.

In one embodiment, the user 111 may via said input unit select a coachand/or assistant, where the coach and/or the assistant may also beassociated with statistical data indicating how good they are. It maynamely happen that the user 111 forgets to log into the game andtherefore miss a match. However, the role of such a coach and/or theassistant may be to automatically select a line-up for the team in theabsence of the user.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of a method according to the present inventionof playing and managing an interactive social game in a communicationnetwork between plurality of client computers connected to a network.

In a first step (S1) 201, an interactive social game program is playedat the plurality of client computers operated by users where the usersare associated with a social item social item to be managed, but thissocial item may e.g. be a football club consisting of e.g. 22 players.

In a second step (S2) 203, promotions from plurality of potentialadvertisers are stored in a memory.

In a third step (S3) 205, these promotions are presented to the users ofthe client computers.

In a fourth step (S4) 207, a promotion of interest is selected by theusers via an input command.

In a fifth step (S5) 209, the selected promotion is incorporated to thesocial item associated to the user and presented visually to the userand the remaining users of said client computers while playing saidinteractive social game.

Different embodiments of said steps have already been discussed inrelation to FIG. 1

FIGS. 3-10 depict one example of a system and a method according to thepresent invention, seen from a point of view of one user selected fromsaid users shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows one example of the user interface that may appear at theclient computers 104-109 when the interactive social game program isrunning. The user may e.g. select between different selection functions405-408 where the user may enter the overview 405 for the team, orselect sponsors 406 where plurality of potential sponsors appear 404where the user may scroll through the plurality of sponsors. The usermay also enter the selection function players 407 where the user canstudy each individual player in the team, view statistical dataassociated to the players etc., the user may also select the stadium 408and view the stadium and all information associated to the stadium.Other selection functions may of course also be provided, e.g. aselection command where the user is creating a new team as shown here.One example of process steps where user is starting the game for thefirst time is following:

Creating User Account:

The user may via a social communication side such as FACEBOOK, establishan account where the user is e.g. given a username and account. Afterthat, the interface that appears to the user may be different from theFACEBOOK interface. When playing the game, the user logs into thisaccount via this username and password. The user may of course also beregistered in a different way such as communicating directly with theserver shown in FIG. 1. The user may also download an application (app)to his/her mobile device such as mobile telephone or any portable deviceor to his/her home computer.

Creating a Club:

This step would typically be the process at the very beginning where theuser creates his own club, but this might just as well occur later whereas an example the user wants to start again from the very beginningbecause he/she did not done a good job in managing the previous club. Inthis example, the creating of the new club includes naming the club andnaming the stadium for the club, selecting the country of origin, thelanguage, the area and the competition the user wants to be part of.

Selecting a Division:

The user can select the strength of the division where he/she wants toplay. As shown in FIG. 3 there may be four strength levels 301-304ranging from the first division, which is the most difficult division toa fourth division, which is the weakest division. In one embodiment, alluser may also automatically be set to the fourth division where the haveto win each division or be one of the top two or three teams to move tothe third/second/first division. Each division may as an example be aset of 12 teams, where an area is a set of 32 competitions.

Within each division there is a normal league setup. The user may haveto compete with every team in the league where his/her team is forhonors, the league title and against relegation. Winning the topdivision within each league is the ultimate goal of every user, alsoreferred to as a manager. In one embodiment, within each competitionthere may also be a cup competition, where clubs from all leagues withinthat competition, compete against each other in a cup format competitionwhere only one club will stand out in the end as a winner. Within eacharea there may be a competition amongst the best clubs in everycompetition, a kind of a Champions League where clubs from differentcompetitions compete against each other. In one embodiment, there is nogeospatial restriction on what division or competition the user's teamcan be a part of, but because this is a game where the social element isof utter importance, one should consider choosing a place among peers.

Mail Box:

When creating a new team/club as described above the user may be handeda mailbox in which the user may contact other users. The user may alsobe assigned assistants who will help you running the team. Theassistants that the user may be provided with in the beginning may be“Assistant manager”—who'll take care of the team if the user by anychance forgets to log in before match day. The user may also seek advicefrom the assistant manager regarding the team. The assistants that theuser may be provided with “Coach” who will take care of teams dailycoaching, “Groundskeeper” who will take care of the stadium as much ashe can.

Assistants are as different as they are many and they may all be ratedas the players. In one embodiment, it may be possible to sack assistantsand hire new (and hopefully better) ones. Other assistance may also beadded such as physios, scouts, additional coaches, youth coaches,additional groundskeepers, etc. All these features mentioned here aboveare of course pre-programmed where some features are automaticallyassociated to the user whereas other additional features such asselecting a new coach are performed via a selection command via saidinput unit where user via touch button/mouse click etc takes differentdecisions, e.g. fire a coach and employ a new one. Also, all thesedecisions affect the financial balance of the team, e.g. when buying anew coach that is rated high and is therefore more expensive, but thismight be a wise investment because the team might in the coming matcheswin these matches and in that way get additional credit points.

In one embodiment, when creating a new team as discussed above, the useris assigned with 22 randomly selected players of various quality andage, e.g. two goalkeepers, six defenders, eight midfielders and sixattackers. The aim of the game is then to take this team and make themchampions. The user may also be assigned with youth facilities with 15youth players (aged 15-18). They will not be able to compete with theregular team unless they sign a professional contract, where theuser/manager will be able to track the progress of the youth players,the players that could make the future bright for the team.

Pre-Season Activities:

Pre-season is the time where the use prepares his team for a competitiveand mind-tiring season, where the user needs to set goals for the comingseason and assess different strategies strategies. This may be realizedif the user logs into the game several times a day and selects differenttask, e.g. training task, mental training etc.

Choosing a Sponsor:

To insure revenue stream via said credit points for the user's club theteam should make sure to have a team sponsor for the coming season. Oneshould be able to choose from few different sponsors who will offerdifferent sponsorship deals. As already addressed, FIG. 4 shown oneexample where different sponsor/potential advertisers 403 are listed.Assuming, as shown here, that the user has selected a uniform forhis/her team with two colors 401, 402, and PEZ® as a sponsor, this logowill appear on the uniform, and maybe also at the stadium etc, i.e. allappearances where this team is competing as an example. This will notonly be visualized towards the user of this team but also all otherusers located worldwide that are e.g. competing with this team. Thisselected sponsor will generate income for the users club via said creditpoints, where this main sponsorship deal may be at least one seasonlong, even longer.

Training:

During pre-season one should train the intensively. By doing intensivetraining the players will gain skills and fitness needed for the comingseason. The better coaches the team has the better the result from thetraining will be. In addition to this, the value of the players willwith more training be increased as discussed previously.

FIG. 5 shows on example of an interface of a player that is presented tothe user by selecting this particular player vie e.g. mouse click ortouch on a touch-sensitive screen. In this case, the player has beengiven the name “John Cole” statistical information such as the averagegrade 502 in this season “8,7” (in the scale 0-10 where 0 is the lowestand 10 the highest grade), the average grade 503 in total “7,3”, otherinformation 504 such as the age (27), the number of played seasons (25),total number of played matches (207), the number of goals in the season(11), the total number of goals (29), rating on different playingcharacteristics such as “positioning” is rated as 7, “acceleration israted as” 8, “speed” as 7 etc. Referring to FIG. 1, this rating may beimproved via e.g. appropriate training tactics etc. where the user maybe presented with various training selections (not shown here) that theuser can select between.

Shown is also the player rating history (506) and the player history507, i.e. where he has been playing etc.

FIG. 6 shows another interface of a player showing the overall skill 600marked as 86 (0 is the lowest and 100 is the highest level), variousplay characteristics are shown, “attacking” 601 marked as 90, “power”602 marked as 92, “skill” 603 marked as 83, “mentality” 604 marked as81, “movement” 605 marked as 86 and “defending” 606 marked as 76.

Engineering the Team:

It may be wise to use pre-season for gap analysis on the team. Where arethe weaknesses and where are the strengths? Scout for players whichcould strengthen your team and shortlist them or make offers.Accordingly, the user should at this stage already start to prepare theteam as whole and/or individual players for the coming season.

Stadium Improvements:

To further increase the revenue options for the team it may be possibleto expand the stadium associated to the team in various ways, such as byincreasing the number of seats so as to sell more tickets and increasegate revenues, and/or by adding souvenir shops or fast food kiosk toincrease revenues from goods sold. Again, the user should however becareful because such investments will cost credit points, but therevenue of the team might also be increased through these investments.

Match Day Preparation:

This is the place in the game process where the strategic minded usermight prefer. In preparation for a typical match day there are fewthings the user should have in mind. Firstly, the user must study theopponent, but the user might get access to all the players in the otherteam, and study the opponent with respect to e.g. which tactics doesplay, is they an offensive or defensive team, where are they weaknessesetc. Based on this the user can set up line-up for the team such aswhether the teams line-up should be defend line-up or offensive. Asshown in FIG. 7 the user may be provided with several line-up options700, such as 4-4-2 line-up which then appears visually to the user 701.The user may also select individual players based on this opponentsstudy or the user may check out the youth development via saidstatistical data. Are there players there who have developed in toplayers who can contribute to your next match.

As shown here, the user might previously have selected COCA COLA® 703and VODAFONE® 704 as sponsors, but the logos of these companies thenappear at all times at the user interface.

To increase the revenue, the user might additionally sell stadiumadvertisements which are visible for those who visit the users stadium,namely said remaining users when e.g. competing with the user's team orwhen accessing information about the user's team. This is depictedgraphically in FIG. 8 where two teams from two users are competing. Oneof the two users has selected COCA COLA® as sponsor and the other onehas selected VODAFONE® as sponsor. Both these users have additionally,at the very beginning, created their own club names, “ALLOA ATHLETIC FC”800 and “STOCKHOLM SAINTS F.C.” 801. The football uniform 802 and 803are also shown with their sponsor names. Moreover, these sponsor namesare also shown as a part of the graphic 808 and 809 that appears at boththe users side. As shown here, additional advertisement have also beensold and becomes a part of the stadium 804, 805, but these additionaladvertisements may give the user/owner of the stadium additional creditpoints. As shown here, the match ended 4 to 3 for ALLOA ATHLETIC FC.Below is a list of the players 806 and 807 who scored.

The time of playing the match may be pre-determined, e.g. on Wednesdayat 8p.m. The results of the match may, as shown here, simply be based ondisplayed a simple match report, where the user can drill down forfurther statistics and analyses. It is actually the processor that as anexample collects all the data from both teams, preferably saidstatistical data about individual players as well as the line-up of theteam, the information about the trainer etc. and utilizes this data asinput in an algorithm that estimates which of the two teams arestatistically a the better team. Therefore, if e.g. the user trains oneof the team players in the wrong way so that the data associated to thisuser get worse it can then actually happen that this team looses a game.

In one embodiment, the user may by clicking on this list see a graphicalpresentation of the goals, where the processor of said system, may as anexample randomly select goals from pool of goals stored at said database(see FIG. 1). This may be in a form of a pre-made video stream or moresimply be a sketch.

The user may be provided with more detailed analysis/statistical infoabout the match e.g. ready made analytical reports etc.

FIG. 9 shows an overview of the previous league round where the user cansee where his/her club ranks amongst the others and in that way the usercan monitor the progress of his/her team.

Results in other matches should be of importance but they can be resultsfrom clubs who are in a direct competition with the user's club forhonors. They can be results from clubs, which include players the useris keeping an eye on because he might want to buy them. They can beresults from clubs that user's friends are managing. They may also beresults from a match that the user's next opponent was playing.

FIG. 10 shows a financial overview over the user's club where the useris provided with detailed information about various financialparameters, such as the balance 1000, the amount received from teamsponsor per season for three seasons 1007, league sponsor per seasonsfor four seasons 1008, the turnover 1001, expenditure 1002, net transferspent 1003, total wages cost 1004, profit (loss) 1005 and balance 1006.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in thedrawings and foregoing description, such illustration and descriptionare to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive; theinvention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Other variationsto the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by thoseskilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a study ofthe drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims,the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and theindefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A singleprocessor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several itemsrecited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recitedin mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that acombination of these measured cannot be used to advantage.

1. A computer-based interactive game system comprising: a central serverconnected to a plurality of client computers by a communicationsnetwork, the central server including a memory and a central processor,wherein the central processor is configured to play an interactivesocial game program stored on the memory of the central server and/or inmemories of the respective plurality of client computers, each of theplurality of client computers is configured to respectively be operatedby and receive input from a corresponding user through a graphical userinterface including user input unit, the central server provides foreach of the corresponding users to compete against each other in avirtual setting based on play input respectively received through theuser input of the graphical user interface, and manage a respective teamin the interactive social game based on management input receivedthrough the graphical user interface of a respective client computerassociated with and operated by the respective user, the the memory ofthe central server stores promotions of interest from a plurality ofpotential advertisers, the central server is configured to receive inputcommands from the users through respective the user input units of theclient computers, the input commands indicating a corresponding one ofthe promotions of interest, the central server includes a centralprocessor that associates for each of the users the corresponding one ofthe promotions of interest, the central server outputs a presentation ofthe selected promotion of interest of one of the users to the others ofthe users to be presented visually through a display device of thegraphical user interface of each of the client computers while the usersplay the interactive social game, and the central server provides foreach of the users to manage the respective team in the social game bycontrolling social activities of the respective team based on a decisionevent through input provided by the user to the corresponding clientcomputer through the respective user input units.
 2. The interactivegame system according to claim 1, wherein the managing of the respectiveteams includes the central server providing for each of the users tofinancially manage their respective team, manage individual virtualplayers of their respective team, or manage daily operations for theirrespective team.
 3. The interactive game system according to claim 1,wherein the managing of the respective teams includes the central serverproviding for each of the users to financially manage their respectiveteam based on input received by the respective client computer based ona financial capacity of each of the respective teams, the financialcapacity of each of the respective teams being based on virtual creditpoints added to each the team based in part on respective promotionsdisplayed to the plurality of users.
 4. The interactive game systemaccording to claim 3, wherein the central server adds or removes one ormore virtual credit points associated to the team in response to thedecision event made by the user received from the respective clientcomputer by the input unit, the decision event being an event differentthan the indication for each of the users of the corresponding one ofthe promotions of interest.
 5. The interactive game system according toclaim 4, wherein the virtual credit points form a part of the financialcapacity for the team and where the financial capacity may be increasedor decreased via the decision event where virtual credit points areadded or removed.
 6. The interactive game system according to claim 4,wherein the managing of the respective teams includes the central serverproviding for each of the users to manage individual virtual players oftheir respective team including buying or selling of the individualvirtual players based on virtual credit points added to each the team.7. The interactive game system according to claim 1, wherein, in thedecision event one or more virtual credit points are added andassociated to the team, and the decision event includes making apromotion deal to one or more of the potential advertisers.
 8. Theinteractive game system according to claim 1, wherein, in the decisionevent one or more virtual credit points are added and associated to theteam, and the decision event includes selling a player in the team. 9.The interactive game system according to claim 1, wherein, in thedecision event one or more virtual credit points are added andassociated to the team, and the decision event includes: winning a game,tying a game. an increase in a number of seats of a stadium associatedto the sport team, an increase in a number of ticket sales, or anincrease in a ticket price in home games.
 10. The interactive gamesystem according to claim 1, wherein, in the decision event one or morevirtual credit points are added and associated to the team, and thedecision event includes the user selecting a promotion from theplurality of potential advertisers, where at least two of the promotionshave different associated virtual credit points.
 11. The interactivegame system according to claim 1, wherein, in the decision event virtualcredit points are removed from the team, and the decision event includesmaking an investment in buying a new team player.
 12. The interactivegame system according to claim 1, wherein, in the decision event virtualcredit points are removed from the team, and the decision event includesmaking an investment by increasing a number of seats of a stadiumassociated to the sport team.
 13. The interactive game system accordingto claim 1, wherein, in the decision event virtual credit points areremoved from the team, and the decision event includes losing a game.14. The interactive game system according to claim 1, wherein, in thedecision event virtual credit points are removed from the team, and thedecision event includes making an investment by buying a new trainer forthe team or making an investment by buying an assistant for the team.15. The interactive game system according to claim 1, wherein theplayers of the team are associated with statistical data indicatingtheir strength and weakness.
 16. The interactive game system accordingto claim 1, wherein the players of the team are associated withstatistical data indicating their strength and weakness, and wherein thestatistical data are dynamical data that are automatically adjusted infavor or against the player in response to a task selected by the user.17. The interactive game system according to claim 16, wherein thetraining task is selected from one or more of the following trainingtasks: tactical training task; physical training task; and mentaltraining task.
 18. The interactive game system according to claim 16,wherein the statistical data are automatically adjusted in favor of theplayer by selecting the player in a starting lineup and increase thenumber of trainings.
 19. A computer-based method performed in aninteractive game system, the method comprising: providing a connectionof a plurality of client computers to a central server by acommunications network, the plurality of client computers respectivelybeing associated with and configured to be operated by a correspondinguser, the central server including a memory and a central processor;providing by the central processor for each of the corresponding usersto play an interactive social game program stored on the memory of thecentral server and/or in memories of the respective plurality of clientcomputers, each of the plurality of client computers being configured torespectively be operated by and receive input from a corresponding userthrough a graphical user interface including user input unit; providingby the central processor for the corresponding users to compete againsteach other in a virtual setting based on play input respectivelyreceived through the user input of the graphical user interface, andmanage a respective team in the interactive social game based onmanagement input received through the graphical user interface of arespective client computer associated with and operated by therespective user; storing in the memory of the central server promotionsof interest from a plurality of potential advertisers; receiving by thecentral server input commands received from the users through respectivethe user input units of the client computers, the input commandsindicating a corresponding one of the promotions of interest;associating by the central processor for each of the users thecorresponding one of the promotions of interest; outputting by thecentral server a presentation of the selected promotion of interest ofone of the users to the others of the users to be presented visuallythrough a display device of the graphical user interface of each of theclient computers while the users play the interactive social game; andproviding by the central server provides for each of the users to managethe respective team in the social game by controlling social activitiesof the respective team based on a decision event through input providedby the user to the corresponding client computer through the respectiveuser input units.
 20. One or more non-transitory computer-readablemediums having stored thereon executable instructions that when executedby the one or more processors configure a computer system to perform atleast the following: provide a connection of a plurality of clientcomputers to a central server by a communications network, the pluralityof client computers respectively being associated with and configured tobe operated by a corresponding user, the central server including amemory and a central processor; provide by the central processor foreach of the corresponding users to play an interactive social gameprogram stored on the memory of the central server and/or in memories ofthe respective plurality of client computers, each of the plurality ofclient computers being configured to respectively be operated by andreceive input from a corresponding user through a graphical userinterface including user input unit; provide by the central processorfor the corresponding users to compete against each other in a virtualsetting based on play input respectively received through the user inputof the graphical user interface, and manage a respective team in theinteractive social game based on management input received through thegraphical user interface of a respective client computer associated withand operated by the respective user; store in the memory of the centralserver promotions of interest from a plurality of potential advertisers;receive by the central server input commands received from the usersthrough respective the user input units of the client computers, theinput commands indicating a corresponding one of the promotions ofinterest; associate by the central processor for each of the users thecorresponding one of the promotions of interest; output by the centralserver a presentation of the selected promotion of interest of one ofthe users to the others of the users to be presented visually through adisplay device of the graphical user interface of each of the clientcomputers while the users play the interactive social game; and provideby the central server provides for each of the users to manage therespective team in the social game by controlling social activities ofthe respective team based on a decision event through input provided bythe user to the corresponding client computer through the respectiveuser input units.